Now it so happens that the whole country west of the great Pallakopas channel, was called by the Assyrians “Mashu.”  Professor Delitzsch identifies this Mashu of the cuneiform inscriptions, with the “Mesha” mentioned in Scriptures, as the home of Havilah.  We have also in Gen. xxv. 8,[2] mention of a land of Havila that is “before”—­i.e., eastward of—­“Egypt as thou goest toward Assyria,” which would answer very well to this locality, west of the Euphrates.  It is also known (from sources which it would take too long to detail) that this country did yield gold-dust.  Pliny also mentions “Bdellium,” if that was the substance known as “B’dolach.”  It is indeed uncertain what this was, but Gesenius long ago rejected the idea that it was a stone, because there is no prefix to it, as there is to “shoham,” which follows, and certainly is a precious stone.  The manna in the wilderness is described as being of the “colour of bdellium,” and was also like hoar-frost;[3] hence the idea that b’dolach was a crystal.  But a fragrant and precious gum-resin seems more likely.  The Magi who came to worship the Infant Saviour from near this locality, brought offerings of gold, and also fragrant gums and myrrh.  Was “bdellium” (as probably being a fragrant gum) one of these offerings?

[Footnote 1:  See Gen. x. 9.]

[Footnote 2:  See also 1 Sam. xv. 7.]

[Footnote 3:  Exod. xvi. 14; Numbers xi. 7:  “The appearance (lit. “eye”) of it was as the appearance of bdellium” (R.V.).]

The “Onyx,” or “Shoham,” was most probably a pure red cornelian, and this also was found in the Babylonian provinces, and was specially worn by the Babylonian kings.

So the country west of the Euphrates answers very well to Havila without any forcing, and without any placing it there because of the river rendering such a plan necessary.

As to the fourth river (Gihon), Delitzsch identifies it, still more clearly, with a channel known as the “Shatt-en-nil,” which branches off from the Euphrates at Babylon itself, and passing the Scriptural city of Erech, rejoins the main river lower down.  A clay tablet has actually been discovered, having the Euphrates, Tigris, and this Shatt-en-nil channel together:  the name of the latter is given as “K[=a]han de,” or “Gughande,” a name which closely resembles Gihon.  The channel is, however, identified independently of the name.  For the Gihon is particularized in the narrative, by the fact that it “compasses” the land of Cush.  This (as already pointed out) is not the Ethiopian Cush.

Delitzsch states, that the whole country bounded by this branch was anciently called Kash-shu, which he identifies with the Cush of Genesis ii.  The syllable “Kash” appears throughout this locality.  In fact Kash-du or Kal-du is the origin of the familiar name Chaldea.  In the Hebrew, Kush (Cush) is the name given to the father of Nimrod, who “began” his kingdom about this very site—­Erech,